Latakia

[proteus]

Boswell Bear Blend. Is an aro with slight cherry and choco to me and a touch of latakia. Also sutliff aro English. Touch of latakia. If you don't like any latakia you'll know it from these. Any less latakia and you'll be smoking a virginia or burley blend.

 

[Lucashly]

I tried C&D Byzantium. The name was so crazy I had to see what this tobacco was like. It has Latakia but I don’t taste it.

 

[milk]

I love Latakia but now it burns my mouth. I can’t figure out if it’s just started happening since I’ve been taking a particular medication, or since I might have had COVID, or something I’ve always had. I’m perplexed. I love the taste and bought quite a a few blends. I’m frustrated lately about how certain things affect me. I may only be able to tolerate straight Virginias or Virginia/perique.

 

[sablebrush52]

I used to love Latakia and then just burned out on it. The smell of it it was enough to make me want to hurl.
I’ve regained my taste for it in condimental amounts.
If Ernie at Watch City ever makes more Glass Slipper, give that one a try. It’s a version of one of his other blends without the Latakia.

 

[Lucashly]

I love Latakia but now it burns my mouth. I can’t figure out if it’s just started happening since I’ve been taking a particular medication, or since I might have had COVID, or something I’ve always had. I’m perplexed. I love the taste and bought quite a a few blends. I’m frustrated lately about how certain things affect me. I may only be able to tolerate straight Virginias or Virginia/perique.

I am sorry to hear this. Unless you have changed blends or different companies I doubt it is the Latakia.

 

[JOHN72]

I love latakia, English blends. I need to switch sometimes, from a sweet virginia, to a latakia blend, especially on those cold winter evenings or nights. A masterpiece for my personal taste are C&D Pirate Kake, Byzantium, Mississippi Mud and from GLP, spark plug.

 

[milk]

I am sorry to hear this. Unless you have changed blends or different companies I doubt it is the Latakia.

I don’t understand it. I’m not going to throw away what I’ve got. I’m actually a bit worried about what’s going on with me. I am on medicines for migraines they dry my mouth a lot. Now, Virginias don’t seem to bother me. Recently I tried Timms London by Dan. Then I tried Petersons 965. Both irritated me, especially the roof of my mouth. This didn’t used to happen, at least I don’t think it did. I will hang on to my Latakia blends and see another time in the future. There is no expert I can ask about this, no Dr is going to take an interest. Maybe I have an allergy? …or maybe these meds cause me to react badly. Of course, it could be orientals as well as Latakia.

 

[Humblepipe]

Boswell Bear Blend. Is an aro with slight cherry and choco to me and a touch of latakia. Also sutliff aro English. Touch of latakia. If you don't like any latakia you'll know it from these. Any less latakia and you'll be smoking a virginia or burley blend.

I have had some and enjoyed it thoroughly. And, I am not much of an aro guy....

 

[Lucashly]

Ac

I don’t understand it. I’m not going to throw away what I’ve got. I’m actually a bit worried about what’s going on with me. I am on medicines for migraines they dry my mouth a lot. Now, Virginias don’t seem to bother me. Recently I tried Timms London by Dan. Then I tried Petersons 965. Both irritated me, especially the roof of my mouth. This didn’t used to happen, at least I don’t think it did. I will hang on to my Latakia blends and see another time in the future. There is no expert I can ask about this, no Dr is going to take an interest. Maybe I have an allergy? …or maybe these meds cause me to react badly. Of course, it could be orientals as well as Latakia.

Actually I was going suggest an Ear Nose And Throat specialist. Your new symptoms my be a symptom of something else going on.

 

[Lucashly]

1

 

[milk]

Ac

Actually I was going suggest an Ear Nose And Throat specialist. Your new symptoms my be a symptom of something else going on.

I went to one recently and had him look in my mouth. He said there was nothing to worry about. I didn’t totally trust him but what can I do? I could get a second opinion. Other tobaccos don’t seem to bother me as much. I’m pretty paranoid generally. It’s another thing to be paranoid about.

 

[Lucashly]

I went to one recently and had him look in my mouth. He said there was nothing to worry about. I didn’t totally trust him but what can I do? I could get a second opinion. Other tobaccos don’t seem to bother me as much. I’m pretty paranoid generally. It’s another thing to be paranoid about.

Ok, I am a physician. You need to get a second and maybe a third opinion. Most likely there is nothing wrong but be smart about it and find out what it is. To say there is nothing to worry about is BS on the part of the Dr. WHAT??? Is there nothing to worry about??

 

[milk]

Ok, I am a physician. You need to get a second and maybe a third opinion. Most likely there is nothing wrong but be smart about it and find out what it is. To say there is nothing to worry about is BS on the part of the Dr. WHAT??? Is there nothing to worry about??

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I went to an ENT. He was very elderly, not that that means he’s no good. But I’m also in Japan and some Drs sometimes don’t give me a very warm feeling here. Some are fine of course. It’s not my native language or country though. I’ll try another who seems more reassuring. Thanks again!

(I have some funny stories about Drs in Japan. I’m 55 and my very elderly Jewish mother was nagging me on FaceTime about getting a mole checked by a skin Dr. So I went to a skin Dr in Japan. The Desk person asked me why I was there. I said, “just a skin checkup.” She had no idea what my answer meant, try as I might. “…a checkup.” Then the Dr saw me. “So, what’s the problem?” I said, “there’s no problem. I want to have my skin checked.” He looked at me uncomprehendingly. I said, “my Jewish mother wants me to get my skin checked,” which I thought was funny and of course knew he wouldn’t understand. Then, “ my elderly mother wants me to check my skin.” Then, “don’t Japanese people have screenings ever?” No).

 

[Ryan]

As many here already said, don’t be afraid to try it again later. When I started smoking a pipe a couple of years ago, I thought the English blends were great, and I enjoyed the Latakia; it was something I could really pick out and taste. Then I found many other things I liked.

At some point during 2022 I had COVID and two things happened afterwards, the DFK that I found too strong before tasted much better (and a bit more subtle) to me. On the other hand, Latakia tasted like an artificial and over-the-top blend killer for me. All the Latakia blends I had purchased sat untouched for a long time. At some point I did try a blend with Latakia again, and still didn’t care for it.

Fast forward to last night and I thought I should give it a try again, I loaded some Sutliff Fox and Hound (it’s not too heavy on the Latakia, but you definitely do taste it) and I enjoyed the bowl. I don’t think the English blends containing Latakia will ever be regular smokes for me again, but I’m glad I can occasionally enjoy it.

Long story short, I’m just repeating what a bunch of other people already have said; jar it and come back to it later. You may feel differently about it.

 

[Indygrap]

I love Latakia but now it burns my mouth. I can’t figure out if it’s just started happening since I’ve been taking a particular medication, or since I might have had COVID, or something I’ve always had. I’m perplexed. I love the taste and bought quite a a few blends. I’m frustrated lately about how certain things affect me. I may only be able to tolerate straight Virginias or Virginia/perique.

Just a thought, but, if you can get some bulk Latakia, you can mix it in to a blend that you know doesn’t bother your mouth. If the lat irritates it, you’ll know. If it doesn’t, then maybe it’s the orientals or some other component. I have issues with burley. It tends to irritate my throat. I’m pretty sure it’s white burley, but until I do further research, I try & avoid blends with a heavy burley content. Hope this helps. No one should be forced to give up Latakia!

 

[Ben.R.C]

I started out hating Latakia and mostly a VaPer guy. Now I’m all over the place. My favorite available English’s with Latakia are Plum Pudding Reserve and Biairgowrie. I don’t much care for the Peterson early morning or Nightcap. It may be you haven’t found the right English/Balkan.

 

[Mike N]

I’m still learning what I like in a tobacco blend, but I’m beginning to think I don’t like Latakia.

Don't worry, you have a lot of company, especially among newer pipe smokers. Latakia always reminds me of how my jeans and waders smell from sitting around the campfire drying out after a day of fly fishing.

If you haven't already, check out some of the aromatics on sites such as The Country Squire. A blend like Old Toby which contains "a dash of Louisiana Perique" (discussed here on a recent thread) or Second Breakfast would be two I can recommend for the palate of a beginning piper. Smoking any Latakia is running with the big dogs and you might have to start a bit slower.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I don’t understand it. I’m not going to throw away what I’ve got. I’m actually a bit worried about what’s going on with me. I am on medicines for migraines they dry my mouth a lot. Now, Virginias don’t seem to bother me. Recently I tried Timms London by Dan. Then I tried Petersons 965. Both irritated me, especially the roof of my mouth. This didn’t used to happen, at least I don’t think it did. I will hang on to my Latakia blends and see another time in the future. There is no expert I can ask about this, no Dr is going to take an interest. Maybe I have an allergy? …or maybe these meds cause me to react badly. Of course, it could be orientals as well as Latakia.

Have you tried smoking blending Latakia straight to confirm it's the issue?

 

[milk]

Have you tried smoking blending Latakia straight to confirm it's the issue?

I haven’t tried this yet. I got a bit tired of burning my mouth but I should try to figure out if it’s orientals or Latakia or what. But I got tired of the whole thing so I took a break from that. I find I’m OK with Virginias and aromatics, for the most part.

 

[SmokerLawyer]

As many fellow smokers said before me, latakia is definetely not a good choice for beginners. When I first started to try latakia blends, my trick was that I smoked them very slowly from a churchwarden. Maybe it's just me, but it was much more enjoyable this way. I still have this silly little 'rule', latakia goes into churchwardens.

Also, Peterson's Wild Atlantic is another relatively mild latakia blend that you should try once.